MsWriteNow

When I first learned of Write or Die, I thought it was joke. Write or Die is an online application that starts erasing your words if you are not adding enough. Of course that is only if you have it in the aptly named Kamikaze mode. What Write or Die is in reality - a great writer’s tool, even when you are not motivated to write. Here’s how it works:

• Go to Dr. Wicked’s Writing Lab by clicking the link, or copy/paste this link into your web browser http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html.
• On the first page you get to, there is a box with a dotted edge. This is where you set-up your writing session.
• Enter the number of words you want to target writing.
• Select the time limit you want to be able to write those words in.
• Select which mode you want to write in. This will determine how it will respond if you are not typing in enough words to reach your goal.
  • Gentle: The screen changes colors to remind you to keep typing.
  • Normal: Plays a sound if you aren’t writing enough.
  • Kamikaze: Starts deleting words that you have entered if you don’t remain productive.
  • Electric Shock: Thankfully, still under development - but I can see this will be a huge bonus for thrill seekers.
• Once you have selected your settings, simply click the rectangular “Write” button.
• It takes you to a blank screen that is like a word processor without any of the bells and whistles. It shows a word count and count-down to your time goal.
• Once you finished typing your words,  simply highlight, copy and paste into your own document before you click the “Done” button.

I tried it - I had to see how it really works. I set it up for 300 words in 10 minutes on normal mode. The typing interface is a plain white screen, so there are no formatting options. I find this to be a good thing, because if you are like me, you probably mess around with the formatting while you are writing. Using Write or Die showed me that I am actually a much faster writer if I don’t have any formatting options.  I was concerned though that when I did the copy/paste, the paragraph breaks would not transfer over, leaving me with just a big square block of text. Not a big deal, I just hate having to chop a square of text up into paragraphs. Much to my surprise, the breaks remained in tact.

As I was typing in my text, there was a moment when I started to lose track of where I was going in my writing so I took a short pause, at which the screen started changing colors from an upset stomach pink to an angry red. Once I started typing again, it resumed back to the normal white screen. As soon as I hit my word count goal, trumpets sounded, but they weren’t annoying. They sounded again once my time was up.

I think this can be a great tool, especially if you are having a hard time getting over a writing hump. My only reservation is that this tool is used directly online, which means you don’t download or install it on your computer. On one hand that is great because you are saving yourself disk space and the possible risk of downloading spyware or malware. On the other hand, it is online. Even though you do not have the ability to save what you have typed into the screen (you need to copy/paste to a document), I don’t really know how secure it is - as there may be some sort of key logger installed on that server. You just don’t know.

My recommended use for Write or Die is to use it to get your creative juices flowing and as a way to challenge your speed writing, in other words as an writing exercise tool, not article writing software. As with most things, writing takes practice. The more you write, the better you become and the faster you will be. Write or Die is a great way to practice your ability to speed write.  Once you have used it in enough, you will know exactly how long it takes you to write a particular number of words.

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